Our Team

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Helen Burstyn

Board Chair

Helen Burstyn has enjoyed a 35-year career in government, business, academia, broadcasting and community service. She is currently the Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Social Venture Zone at Ryerson University and the Chair of Waterfront Toronto, a tri-partite government agency responsible for the revitalization and stewardship of the city’s waterfront lands.

The former Chair of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Helen also served for several years as the Government of Ontario’s Special Advisor, Social Enterprise and Chair of the Partnership Forum, the province’s advisory body on the not-for-profit and voluntary sector.

Helen is a director of many non-profit and charitable organizations, including Evergreen, which she has chaired since June 2014, the Canadian Opera Company, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the Toronto Public Library Foundation, Luminato, The Walrus Foundation, Harmony Hall Centre for Seniors, The Learning Partnership, and the Koffler Centre for the Arts. She is a co-founder of The Pecaut Centre for Social Impact and Gilda's Club Greater Toronto, and was a founding member of Equal Voice. She served for nine years as a Trustee of the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH) and is a past-president of the Canadian Club of Toronto.

Helen is the author of Eleven Out of Ten: The Life and Work of David Pecaut. She is the recipient of the YWCA Women of Distinction Award for Community Leadership and the Ontario Citizenship Award for Volunteer Service.

In December 2017, Helen was named Member (C.M.) of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honours, in recognition of her outstanding achievement and leadership of a range of non-profit organizations dedicated to arts and culture, literacy, health and the environment.

George F. Dark, FCSLA, ASLA

Chair Emeritus

George is a senior partner at Urban Strategies Inc., an international award-winning planning and urban design firm that works to shape and enhance urban places through strategic action, holistic design and progressive policies. He has over 35 years of professional experience as an urban designer and landscape architect, and is a member of the College of Fellows of both the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects and the American Society of Landscape Architects. George was also founding chairman of the Toronto Parks Foundation, on the Honour Roll of the Toronto Region Conservation Authority, a member of several City of Ottawa Design Review Panels and has received over 40 national and international awards for his work.

Anne Brace, MBA, CPA-CA

Vice Chair, Treasurer, Chair – Finance and Audit Committee

Anne Brace currently sits on the board and audit committee of Strongco Corporation (TSX:SQP) and is a director at Evergreen as well as the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN). She also serves as Treasurer and Chair of the Audit and Finance Committees for OTN.

Prior to retiring, Anne was the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Softchoice Corporation. During her 11-year tenure, the company grew annual revenues from US $70 million to US $1.2 billion. Anne spearheaded several acquisitions, took the company public and managed an evolving capital structure. She achieved her CA designation while at Ernst & Young and also served as CFO to Applanix Corporation, prior to her employment at Softchoice.

Anne obtained her MBA at York University and her BA from Trinity College, University of Toronto.

John D. Coyne

Secretary

John has been with Unilever Canada since 1992 and today works with professionals and multi-disciplinary teams in law, sustainability, corporate and government relations, regulatory affairs, quality assurance and safety. He is a member of Unilever Canada’s board of directors as well as the Canadian Leadership Team, and is also chair of the company’s Pension Committee.

John is well known for his leadership in corporate sustainability. He is a passionate activator of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, designed to help Unilever deliver its objective of growing the business while reducing its environmental footprint and increasing its positive contribution to society. John is Executive Chair of the Board of Canadian Stewardship Services Alliance, Inc. and is a director of Evergreen. In addition, John is co-chair of the Partners in Project Green steering committee, a major environmental initiative of the Toronto Region Conservation Authority. He is also director and past Chair of Stewardship Ontario. In 2012 John has been recognized for his leadership in corporate sustainability by being named by Clean 50 as one of Canada’s top sustainability leaders. John was appointed as a member of the Ontario Government’s Climate Action Group, which advises the Ontario Minister of the Environment on effective climate change actions that will help Ontario meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals and transition to a prosperous, low-carbon economy.

John also works closely with industry groups and other organizations. He is Chair of the board of Canadian Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association Foundation and is director and past Chair of the Canadian Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association.

Alan Dean

Chair—Governance and Nominating Committee

Alan Dean is president and executive director of Brookfield Partners Foundation, the charitable arm of Brookfield, an international asset management company based in Toronto. Alan retired from Brookfield in 2008 after 20 years in communications, governance and shareholder relations. Before this, he worked in business planning for Cadillac Fairview, a leading North American real estate developer, and as an urban planner for the City of Toronto. Alan’s board experience includes acting as a director of Brookfield Investments Corporation, trade committee chair for the Canadian Council for International Business, vice-chair of the Canadian Council for the Americas and chair of the Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce. He is also on the Woodsworth College Campaign Cabinet at the University of Toronto. Alan has degrees from the University of Toronto in Architecture, Geography and Business.

Andrew Graham

Co-Chair—Program Committee

Andrew is co-founder and CEO of Borrowell, a Canadian marketplace lending platform serving consumers with good credit scores. He leads a dynamic team dedicated to bringing better rates and service to borrowers as well as attractive returns to investors.

Before founding Borrowell, Andrew led the insurance business at PC Financial. He has also held roles in corporate strategy and mergers and acquisitions. Earlier in his career, Andrew served as a political staffer in Ottawa. He is co-founder of Toronto Homecoming, a profitable social enterprise that has connected hundreds of talented Canadians abroad with job opportunities in the region. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MA in economics from the University of Edinburgh. The Evergreen Brick Works Farmers Market is a favourite weekend destination for Andrew, his wife and daughter.

Jamison Steeve

Co-Chair—Program Committee

Jamison is Executive Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute and the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity, two of Canada’s leading think tanks. With a background as a teacher and a lawyer, Jamison has spent the last decade committed to developing and implementing impactful public policy. That work continues here as he aims to build upon the successful legacy of the institutes while blazing an exciting future. Jamison holds a B.A. (Honours) and a B.Ed from Queen’s, along with a LLB from Dalhousie.

Joyce Barretto

Board Director

A strategic leader with over 25 years of success in the private, public and non-profit sectors, Joyce began her career in real estate and development, and subsequently joined the Ontario Public Service. She served in multiple ministries including the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, lastly as the assistant deputy minister of four large provincial agencies responsible for public policy issues and agency liaison between external Boards and the Province.

She is past president of the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto and is currently a board director for the Parkinson’s Society of Canada. Joyce is a management consultant with broad functional expertise spanning board governance, complex project management, government relations and human resources. Her current work is in the area of environmental sustainability and board start-up. She has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Ontario.

Julie Bowen

Board Director

Julie joined the Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN) in 2012 as VP – Experience and Engagement after four years at TELUS Spark, and 18 years at the Ontario Science Centre. At the CMN she is responsible for the retail and revenue-generating operations as well as programs, exhibits and the web. Throughout her career, Julie has facilitated and led teams in the development and implementation of programs, interactive exhibitions and activities in the science centre and museum field, including Canada's first purpose-built science centre in 25 years—TELUS Spark (opened 2011). She has consulted for science centres and not-for-profit institutions around the world helping them to develop innovative approaches to delivering their missions to their audiences. Julie holds a Master of Science (Biology) and a Bachelor of Science (honours) – Biology from Queen’s University.

Andy Chisholm

Board Director

Andy Chisholm is a member of the Board of Directors of Royal Bank of Canada. Prior to that he spent most of his career at Goldman Sachs & Co, which he joined in 1985 in New York. He served in a variety of progressively more senior leadership roles within the organization during his 30 year career including as Senior Strategy Officer of the firm globally from 2012–2014, as Head or co-Head of the Global Financial Institutions Group in both London and New York from 2002–2012, and as co-Chair of the Firmwide Commitments Committee (primarily overseeing the firm's equity underwriting activities) from 2011–2015.

Andy holds a B. Comm. from Queens University (1981) and graduated with an MBA from the Ivey Business School at Western University in 1985 where he is Chairman of the Advisory Board. He lives in Toronto with his family.

Karen Clarke-Whistler

Board Director

Karen Clarke-Whistler has been the Chief Environment Officer of TD Bank Group since 2008. An environmental scientist, she spent more than 15 years consulting a diverse base of clients in North and South America, Europe and Africa prior to joining TD. Karen developed and leads a program that embeds an environmental perspective in TD's core business strategy and has been instrumental in the bank being recognized as a North American environmental leader and a global climate leader, supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy. In 2010, TD became the first North American-based carbon neutral bank and in 2014 the first commercial bank in Canada to issue a green bond. TD is the first Canadian bank to join RE100 in a commitment to 100% renewable energy. Karen has twice been named one of Canada's Clean 16 for her “outstanding contribution to clean capitalism.”

Saleem Dedhar

Board Director

Saleem is the founder and president of S2S Environmental Inc., an environmental consulting firm providing a broad range of environmental due diligence services for the real estate sector. Previously the vice chairman and president of a private multinational environmental consulting firm with offices across North America and abroad, he has served on numerous Boards of Directors, including chairing the Markham Board of Trade, the Board of FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance Canada and the Ontario Centre for Environmental Technology Advancement. He was also the lead director on the Board of a publicly-traded multinational manufacturing company. Saleem has a Bachelors of Applied Science degree in civil engineering from UBC, a Masters of Applied Science degree in environmental engineering from UBC, and graduated on the Dean’s List with an Executive MBA from the University of Toronto.

Renée Gomes

Board Director

Renée is the Director of Development at Waterfront Toronto, the agency tasked with transforming over 2,000 acres of land as part of one of the world's largest waterfront revitalization projects. Renée oversees a range of development projects in the West Don Lands and East Bayfront communities. She works to attract private-sector investment in the waterfront and to ensure that development advances Waterfront Toronto’s objectives for design excellence, sustainability, and the establishment of precedent-setting, mixed-use communities. Her notable project experience includes Athletes’ Village for the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games. She is an enthusiastic champion of creative, multi-sector approaches for achieving public policy objectives.

Prior to joining Waterfront Toronto, Renée was an Associate Planner at Urban Strategies Inc., where she led municipal approvals processes and prepared a range of planning and development strategies for public- and private-sector clients in the GTA and in England. Renée holds a Master of Science in Planning degree from the University of Toronto. She is a Registered Professional Planner and a member of the Canadian Institute of Planners. Renée frequently guest lectures and has taught at the University of Toronto.

Andy Macaulay

Board Director

Andy built two of Canada’s most recognized advertising agencies on business success created for leading marketers like IKEA, Pfizer, Unilever and Molson. As a partner in Roche Macaulay & Partners, he helped it become Canadian Agency of the Decade for the ‘90s (Marketing Magazine) and International Agency of the Year for 1998 (Ad Age). He then started Zig with two partners, growing it to 120 people before stepping aside. Andy is now chairman of a successor organization, Union, a co-founder of Metapurpose, a purpose-driven brand strategy firm, and a co-founder of Citizen Capitalism, a passion project aimed at helping people change the world with their daily decisions. He is also on the Board of the Macaulay Child Development Centre. He has a BBA from WLU.

Shabin Mohamed

Board Director

Shabin is a Chartered Professional Accountant and non-profit director. Shabin has volunteered on various non-profit boards over the past 15 years and currently serves as a trustee of the Art Gallery of Ontario and a director of the Aga Khan Museum and the Toronto International Film Festival.

Geoffrey Cape

Geoff Cape is the founding CEO of Evergreen since 1991. Day to day, Geoff is focused on the development and acceleration of good ideas that advance Evergreen’s mission. With a background in real estate development, sustainability and urbanization trends globally, Geoff helps to evolve Evergreen programs to offer leadership solutions for cities and citizens.

Selected in 1999 as one of Canada’s “Top 40 Under 40” by The Globe and Mail Report on Business magazine, Geoff has also been honoured with the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in recognition of “Canadians who have made outstanding and exemplary contributions to their communities or to Canada as a whole.” In 2005, Geoff was inducted into an International Fellowship by Ashoka: Innovators for the Public. In 2007, Geoff won the prestigious Schwab Foundation’s “Social Entrepreneur of the Year” award. Geoff was founding Chair of the Sustainability Institute, Deputy Board Chair, Development for Downsview Park, a crown corporation in Canada, and a past member of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation Selection Committee. Geoff has been a regular participant and speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and is on the “Future of Urban Development Advisory Board” and the “Technology Pioneers Selection Committee” for the World Economic Forum. Geoff lives in the Annex neighbourhood in Toronto with his wife Valerie and three boys Toma, Ben and Sebastien, and cycles to work every day—even in blinding snow storms.

Sarah Heynen

Sarah joined Evergreen in 2009 as Manager, Capital Campaign for Evergreen Brick Works and was promoted to Director of Development in 2012. In 2013, Sarah became Evergreen’s first ever Chief Development Officer in recognition of her broad leadership role in Evergreen’s capital and operating sponsorship and charitable fundraising programs. Her 12 years fundraising experience includes past positions at WWF-Canada, Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation, and as a former board member of the Planet in Focus International Environmental Film and Video Festival.

Sarah holds an LLB from the University of Alberta and an Honours BA in Anthropology from the University of Western Ontario. She lives in Toronto with her husband and two young children.

Will Scott

Will Scott joined Evergreen as Chief Development Officer in 2017. Will has more than 25 years of experience working as an educator, scholar and not-for-profit leader. He has managed high performing teams, founded non-profits, and helped multiple organizations secure the funding to reach ambitious visions. His fundraising experience includes major donor cultivation/stewardship, developing new revenue streams through partnerships, and grant-writing. He holds a Ph.D. in American History from the University of California, Berkeley, with specializations in the histories of race and consumerism (including the history of marketing).

Martin Canning

Martin Canning joined Evergreen as Chief Program Officer in 2017. He was formerly a Senior Policy Advisor to the Minister of Infrastructure. Martin brings a record of success to all his initiatives, which includes developing strategy, fostering performance-driven organizations, and advising at the highest levels of government on policy and strategy. With national and international management experience, Martin's professional brand is marked by a commitment to sustainability and an enthusiasm for leading in complex environments.

Martin has extensive non-for-profit governance experience and has provided strategic advice to numerous boards and organizations. He was appointed to the City of Ottawa’s Environmental Advisory Committee by the Mayor in 2009, and retired as its Vice Chairmanship in 2012. He has also served as a founding board member of the Ottawa Centre EcoDistrict, an innovative multi-sectoral partnership, driving new heights of urban sustainability in Canada's capital.

Prior to Evergreen, Martin advised the Government of Ontario on capital planning and procurement policy matters during the largest infrastructure investment in the province's history (approx. $190 billion over 13 years).

Kathleen Buzek

Kathleen Buzek joined Evergreen as Finance Director in 2015, and was promoted to Chief Finance Officer (CFO) in 2017. As CFO, Kathleen is responsible for Evergreen’s internal and external financial reporting. Kathleen is a Chartered Professional Accountant who started her career in public accounting, spending seven years in audit at KPMG, with three years specializing in not-for-profit organizations. Kathleen currently serves on the Board of Directors of Skylark Children, Youth and Families.

Cam Collyer

Cam is the Executive Director, Programs at Evergreen, overseeing and developing Evergreen’s evolving national suite of programs that connect Canadians with nature. This includes Evergreen’s programs that engage Canadians in restoring health to public lands and communities. He has overseen the establishment of a national network of school ground design professionals, the creation of a large suite of print and web-based publications, the establishment of pioneering partnerships with schools boards across Canada and the distribution of over $3 million in grants to schools.

Cam is on the board of directors of Green Teacher magazine, Green Schoolyards America and is a co-founder of the International School Ground Alliance. Cam is a regular presenter at conferences, universities and in the media on topics of school ground greening, environmental education, and the connection between children and nature.

Robert Plitt

Robert oversees Evergreen’s suite of programs focused on tackling critical urban infrastructure issues. He has worked for two decades in Toronto co-creating transformative civic asset revitalization projects including the redevelopment of Evergreen Brick Works, the Wychwood Barns and the Distillery District.

Prior to his role as Executive Director, Programs, he was Director of Collective Impact, where he developed Evergreen’s Action Lab program and curated multi-sector collaborations focused on systems change at national and regional scales.

Lois Lindsay

Since joining the Evergreen team in 2002, Lois has played a key role in many aspects of Evergreen programs, from volunteer engagement strategies, to municipal partnership development, to authoring a number of Evergreen’s signature guidebooks. Lois has provided senior administrative and strategic support behind the national growth of Evergreen’s Children and Greenspace programs, as well as helping to establish Evergreen Brick Works as a destination for green living, design, and urban sustainability.

As Executive Managing Director of programs, Lois puts the teams and resources in place to help advance Evergreen’s strategic direction. Lois holds a Master’s Degree in Geography, and an Honours degree in English and Environmental Studies. She lives in Toronto with her husband and two sons.